Rabbit Hole. Where: Premiere Stages, Kean University, Zella Frye Theatre, 1000 Morris Ave., Union. When: Through Sept. 21. Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m. How much: $25; $20 seniors; $15 students. Call (908) 737-7469 or visit kean.edu/premierestages.
"Rabbit Hole" is ultimately a small drama that profits from intimacy, so it sits well in Kean University's cozy Zella Frye Theatre in Union. The Premiere Stages production is seen to better advantage here than in its New York home.

Granted, on Broadway, David Lindsay-Abaire's 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner had an astonishing set. It twisted and turned to show the many rooms of a handsome house occupied by Becca and Howie, a home that feels emptier now. Becca and Howie's 4-year-old son, Danny, was killed by a car eight months earlier after he chased his dog into the street.

Premiere's set designer, Joseph Gourley, and director John Wooten decided the play could be more easily staged solely in a living room and kitchen. They know, too, that the closer the audience can be to the grieving parents, the more they'll share in the experience.

There's plenty of agony to go around. Friends, at a loss for words, have stopped calling Becca and Howie. She's tried support groups where people think they know what to say, but Becca doesn't want to hear that "God needed another angel."

Perhaps selling the house is the answer. Every inch of it provides some memory of Danny's presence. On the other hand, would leaving home mean losing Danny completely? Is trying to forget the boy the only way to move on?

Becca's profligate sister Izzy and alcoholic mother Nat have problems of their own, which turns the plot perilously close to melodrama. The lofty and sensitive nature of Lindsay-Abaire's writing keeps this from being another episode of afternoon drama.

Wooten has staged many plays, but this may well be his best effort. He's assembled a top-notch cast. Sue Cremin is astonishing as Becca. She lets us see that Becca had an enthusiasm for life and sense of humor until they, too, were killed by the accident. How sad she is when Becca is reminded of that dark day, and gets angry with herself because "I was doing really well for two or three days in a row." That, she conveys, may well be all that a grieving mother can hope for.

Lindsay-Abaire sharply created Nat to have many grounded traits that were passed on to Becca, and some flighty ones, too, inherited by Izzy; Sheila Stasack subtly displays them all. In a moving scene between Stasack and Cremin near the end of the play, daughter discovers that mother may have advice worth hearing.

The fifth character is Jason, the teen driver of the car that struck Danny. T.J. McNeill excels in showing that Becca and Howie aren't the only victims here, and that his decision to take a certain route home will haunt him for the rest of his life. McNeill tries to leaven his agony with a smile, underlining Jason's torture.

A tip of the hat to costume designer Jennifer Paar for Becca's sweater. A turtleneck is apt for a woman who looks as if she wants to retract her head into her body and keep it there. It's just another smart choice made by the staff and cast of "Rabbit Hole."